Plain English Part 116

THE END AND THE BEGINNING

As we look back over the study of these thirty lessons we find that we have covered quite a little ground. We have covered the entire field of English grammar including punctuation. But our study of English must not conclude with the study of this course. This is simply the foundation which we have laid for future work. You know when students graduate from high school or college the graduation is called the Commencement. That is a peculiarly fitting term, for the gaining of knowledge ought truly to be the commencement of life for us.

Some one has said that the pursuit of knowledge might be compared to a man's marriage to a charming, wealthy woman. He pursued and married her because of her wealth but after marriage found her so charming that he grew to love her for herself. So we ofttimes pursue wisdom for practical reasons because we expect it to serve us in the matter of making a living; because we expect it to make us more efficient workers; to increase our efficiency to such an extent that we may command a higher salary, enter a better profession and be more certain of a job.

All this is well; but we often find that after we have pursued wisdom for these reasons, practical as they are, we have fallen in love with her for her own sake. We begin to take pleasure in her society; we begin to want to know things for the sake of knowing them, for the pleasure that it brings us, quite divorced from any idea of monetary gain.

So while we have urged upon you the study of English because of the great practical benefit that it will be to you, we trust that you have also grown to love the study for its own sake.

Make this but the beginning of your work in the study of English.